Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X #1) – Richelle Mead

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of Xseries, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

This is going to be a really quick review, because I did not finish this book. I will not be rating this book. I am just giving my opinion on this book for fans and potential readers of Richelle Mead:

Gameboard of the Gods had a lot of potential, but it fell flat for me. I got about 100 pages into it, and I was dying by that point. Richelle Mead created an awesome world and an amazing concept for a book, but it stayed at one level consistently. There was no action, character development, etc.

A huge part of the problem with Gameboard of the Gods were the two main characters, Justin and Mae. First of all, Justin was a very sleazy character to read about, and he never got better. It ended up being very difficult to read about a character that I didn’t like. There was nothing really wrong with Mae, but she was pretty boring to read about. I just had a really hard time putting the two of them together in my head.

On a positive note, the world that Richelle Mead created in Gameboard of the Gods was awesome. I give her that. It takes talent to create the type of world that she created, and that alone will draw readers in. Unfortunately, the book fell flat, and the world she created was not enough to make it better.

It breaks my heart that I was unable to finish this book, because I am such a HUGE Richelle Mead fan. I’ve noticed recently, though, that her books just are not as good as they usually are. The Last Vampire Academy book was a snore, I cannot get into the Bloodlines novels, and now I had to put down Gameboard of the Gods. Will I continue to read her books? Yes, but I probably won’t be buying any more of them…

I know that there are a ton of you who are excited for Gameboards of the Gods. Some of you have waited for months for this book…maybe even a year. And while I would love to just tell you about the awesome books I read, I also think that it’s my job to tell you about the books that I didn’t like quite so much..or at all. Just because I didn’t like this book, doesn’t mean that you’re not going to like this book. Keep researching opinions! But now you have mine.